The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Nova School of Business & Economics are preparing to launch, through a partnership, the first master’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Impact in Portugal. An executive training program for business leaders will also be launched. Both the masters’ degree and the executive training program were conceived under Gulbenkian’s new Chair, dedicated to Impact Economy (Gulbenkian Chair of Impact Economy). These training offers were created by taking into consideration the increasingly important role that these new social challenges have on the economy and society and that their resolution is achieved by transforming the attitude of organizations, especially in what concerns leadership. This partnership will also allow the promotion of content development and research in this area.
The program will have an innovative format that will include three different specializations: entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and intrapreneurship. It will take place during the 2019/2020 school year.
The executive training course will last three days and intends to involve more (national and international) talent to help solve society's challenges. The focus is on changing the leadership mindset by exploring entrepreneurship, innovation, and social investment concepts and tools that transform their organizations. The program, which takes place during this school year, seeks to transform these leaders into catalysts for social innovation and impact investment in their organizations.
Under this partnership, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation will also help Nova SBE students attend these programs, awarding merit scholarships to students of the new masters’ degree and two annual fellowships in the executive education program.
"The connection between the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and NOVA University Lisbon, more precisely with Nova SBE, has already some years to its name. With this specific partnership, we seek not only to strengthen our research capacity on these subjects but also – and especially – to influence current and future leaders to include aspects such as social impact in their decision-making processes," says Isabel Mota, President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
"With the support from the Gulbenkian Foundation, which makes us very proud, Nova SBE unites, in a fundamental way, the chance we have been taking when attracting and developing national and international talent in entrepreneurship and in social entrepreneurship. With these new programs we will be developing the skills of future professionals through problem-based and action-oriented programs aimed at new generations which seek a more practical education, one that focuses on their potential impact within the unique environment of startups that we have in Portugal today," says Daniel Traça, Dean of Nova SBE.